Greetings again from Los Angeles where my mother-in-law’s Honduran maid is an Evangelical Christian. She is sweet. But she reminded me very politely that people who don’t accept Jesus are going to hell. This is what I get for trying to practice my Spanish with her. In all fairness, I think some communication lines got… Continue reading To Hell in a Hand Basket
Read the article “8 Things NEVER to Say to a Mixed-Race Colleague” and then you’ll understand my 8 responses. 1. Do people actually ask this directly? Jesus! 2. I look foreign as compared to what? 3. See? I don’t make this stuff up. Apparently, mixed race people get told they’ll make beautiful babies all the… Continue reading Did you really just say that?
“Latino Radio Show Stirs Concern Over Views on Jews”, featured in the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, is an ugly read. The story focuses on a Latino radio show that consistently trash talks Israel in vitriolic statements that often boil over into blatant anti-Semitism. Is this a symptom of a larger rift between the… Continue reading Latinos against Jews
1. Old Testament–Just offensive. We prefer the original and only testament. (But calling it the Hebrew Bible is okay, too.) 2. Can I see your horns? 3. Have you considered Jesus as your personal savior? 4. Why do you hate Palestinians? 5. How come you only eat food blessed by a rabbi? Can’t you just… Continue reading What not to say to Jews
Here is a comment I made in response to questions about my last piece. I thought I would upgrade it to a blog post: I am not a posek, not any kind of rabbinical authority, and anything I discuss with my rabbi is between him and me (and not just because he tells me not… Continue reading Not a Rabbi, Not a Celebrity
My energy level is dropping quickly but I hate to finish the day without remarking on my talks at Brooklyn College today. A really cool professor there had me come in to speak to his students, another professor’s students and the broader Brooklyn College audience. Incredibly, I was representing the Judaic Studies, Latino Studies and… Continue reading Brooklyn College Take Two: Ruminations on my latest talk
Here is an interview that should have been part of a larger piece tracking three interfaith couples and their religious choices. Batya keeps kosher but her husband isn’t Jewish. She paints a different picture of the statistics of intermarriage. We’ve heard them all by now: “Intermarriage threatens Jewish survival. Over 70% of the children of… Continue reading Interfaith Couple Chooses Judaism
I’m hoping to enter this piece in a contest or submit it to one of the magazines that it’s my goal to get my work in this year. I recently received a devastating rejection from one magazine. The editor was wonderful about it and she gave me a connection to another editor. We’ll see what… Continue reading Second Draft: A Survivor
“Integration of Mixed Families”, an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post, has gotten me riled up. As a Modern Orthodox convert, I suppose that’s to be expected. It proposes in not so coded terms that conversion must change in Israel because it’s currently being held hostage by the haredi rabbinate. And whether or not that seems… Continue reading Secular Conversions, eh? The Current State of Jewish Conversion
Here’s a piece I’m still working on…. I’ve always had this intense relationship with G-d. I prayed all the time growing up. And I don’t just mean the on-my-knees “As I lay me down to sleep…” kind of prayer I was taught as a Catholic child or the structured three-times-a-day prayer that comes with being… Continue reading Working draft of ‘My Love/Hate Relationship with G-d’
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 